Porcelain

Chapter 46

Dally and Estelle made it back to the Curtis house a few minutes before Darry got up to make breakfast. They'd gotten around two hours of sleep, but Estelle was hungry and they could drink coffee there. Dally grumpily agreed to get up, if only because she was pregnant and he didn't want to seem like an asshole to her.

Darry immediately noticed the dirt on their clothes from sleeping on the ground, as well as small bits of ash. He also smelled a bit of residual smoke on the duo, and immediately figured out what the two had done.

He narrowed his eyes as Dally walked into the kitchen after Estelle, but the guilty pair ignored him.

"Estelle, you sure you should be drinking that coffee?" Darry said, taking out his irritation on something different.

She glared at him. "It's just a cup of coffee. I'll be fine."

"Well, don't drink too many, you don't usually drink coffee anyways."

"I know, I know, I just didn't have anywhere good to sleep last night."

"The couch is always open," Darry replied mildly.

"But then Dally would have had to sleep on the floor, and that ain't fair."

"Go sleep in Soda's bed, he can share with Pony."

"Well that ain't fair to him either."

"Well it's a better solution than burning down a house," he said sharply.

She just shrugged and sipped her coffee. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, just happened to be sooner. Besides, I can take the insurance and buy another house or something, and that fixes all these problems."

Darry slammed his hands on the counter. "Doesn't make it right! That was a crime. Y'all should know better than to go setting things on fire. Y'all know how unpredictable these things are. You could have killed someone!"

That stung, mostly because she had upset Darry. Who had opened his home up to her unconditionally.

But he was treating her like she didn't know shit, she knew what she was doing. Dally knew what he was getting into helping her.

So she put on a real hurt look, and turned to meet Darry's eyes. "I'm a lot of things, Darry. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. I might not be what people consider to be the "smartest." But I ain't dumb. I wouldn't be alive if I was. I made my choices cause I knew what the consequences would be. Don't act like I'm dumb, because we all know that's a lie," she snapped.

Dally hadn't said anything, but from the way he was standing behind her, it was clear whose side he supported.

"Then quit making dumb choices," Darry snapped.

"Lay the fuck off her," Dally snarled, hand reaching towards the knife in his jacket pocket.

She put her hand on his chest, gently warning him that it wasn't the time for violence.

"I can handle this, Dally. It's okay."

She took a deep breath. "I already said this, you're going in circles. I mighta made a risky choice, but I didn't make a dumb one. I needed that closure. I knew what could have happened. But I'm a big girl and Dally's a big boy. It's fine. I wouldn't have done it if I thought someone could have gotten hurt."

Darry backed off. "I'm sorry, Estelle. I just don't want you accidentally making a hasty choice and you or someone else getting hurt."

She nodded. "I know. But I can make my own choices."

"You're right, you can. I'm sorry."

_____
Estelle woke up after her coffee, so she went to thr bathroom to try and be a person again instead of some sooty creature.

She hadn't realized how long she'd been in the area, and she had soot on her face and all on her clothes.

She wiped most of her face clean, but left a small amount on her face. It brought out the hollows of her face. It made her look a little more threatening, and less feminine. She kind of liked it.

She went to borrow a shirt from Sodapop, and but first went to find Dally.

"Give me your jacket, I need to at least shake the dirt off, you're getting the couch all dirty," she said, wrinkling her nose.

She took both of their jackets outside and got as much dirt and soot off as she could, before going back to the bathroom and changing into Sodapop's shirt. Her bump showed the slightest bit, which she didn't like, so she put on Dally's jacket as it was a bit larger. She then went and tossed hers to him, and went to grease her hair back. She didn't like how it felt, but it made her look more like a boy.

"Why'd you give me your jacket?" Dally scowled when she walked back out.

She shrugged. "Yours is bigger," she said, glancing down quickly.

Dally picked up what she meant, and nodded. "Give it back later."

"Get up, we're going out," she told him as she laced her boots.

"Where?"

"Anywhere. I just wanna have fun today."

"And that involves what?"

"I dunno. We can go grab some eggs and throw them at the Soc houses and cars or something?" She said with a smirk.

Dally smirked right back. "That's my girl."

"Damn right," she said.